Friday, October 23, 2015

I see no reason why this isn't a goal. The Northeaster forward is not in the Minnesota crease before the puck is in the net. There doesn't appear to be any contact with the goalie. I think this is a blown call by the B1G officials. Your thoughts.

Northeastern looked like it scored a goal. Being reviewed.
No goal call on the ice was for man in the crease.
3-0 #Gophers w/ 9:32 in 2nd

Friday, October 16, 2015

Good Morning! Good times have come our way. The second week of the college hockey season is finally here. The weekend kicks off with a double header, home-and-home hockey weekend for the UND hockey teams. The Women play both days at 2:00 pm followed by the UND men.

And Finally, former Fighting Sioux All-American Zach Parise scores his fifth goal of the season. This is the quickest that Zach has gotten to five goals to start a hockey season. The Wild are 3-0 and Parise has scored (5g-1a--6pts) in three games.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Yes it's true, Steve Ott is a rodeo clown. Personally, I would recommend circus clown instead. Rodeo clowns actually have a purpose in life.

I am so glad that someone from that national media has finally said this. I think the Wild should be applauded for their restraint and not taking the bait from the St. Louis Blues. It has been fun to watch the Wild players just look Ott and smile and skate away.

Jim Souhan, Star Tribune – Wild fans will want to treat Steve Ott as a villain. He’s not. Villains are frightening. Ott is more like junk mail — annoying but meaningless, and soon to be stuffed in the proper recycling bin.

If the St. Louis Blues were intelligent, they would be feeding off the talent of Vladimir Tarasenko. Instead, they are feeding off the idiocy of Ott, a supposed enforcer who plays like a child, holding sticks and patting heads instead of just once hitting someone square.

When Ott actually had a chance to help his team with a third-period breakaway, he lost the puck, then fanned on a pass in the crease. He’s not a hockey player; he’s a rodeo clown.

Sometimes Ott mimics a tough guy late in games, when the hockey portion of the evening has ended. Monday, with his team down by three goals in the waning moments, he jumped on the smallest player in the game, Jared Spurgeon.

I think that Ott's attacking Jared Spurgeon needs to be addressed at the right time and place. For the most part, that’s not the Wild game. The Wild are ranked 20th in the NHL in fighting majors and don’t have any players with more than five fights. Wild forward Chris Stewart has been in eight fights this season, but has only been in three as a member of the Wild.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

I want to be clear, I am all for fighting and sticking up for your teammates. I get that, but what the heck is Cody McLeod doing? Or better yet, what is Avalanche coach Patrick Roy doing?

My question is: Wouldn't this be an intent to injure? McLeod took a run against an unexpecting player after the faceoff. I don't know?

Second, Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund are skilled players, they're not goons. You really don't want to see Coyle or Granlund stuck in this situation.

If you're a Minnesota Wild, you're probably talking about this today. The Minnesota Wild the Colorado Avalanche are at it yet again. In four games against the Wild the Avalanche has scored a grand total of one goal.

There are rules in place to prevent what McLeod did, but you need the refs to actually call it.

“That’s garbage is what it is,” Yeo said of McLeod’s antics. “You feel it was going that way all game long. They were obviously very emotional all game long. In an emotional type of game, we did a good job of keeping our focus and I really think that was the difference in the end.”

Asked what he thought of Roy putting out McLeod, Yeo said, “We’ve seen the league respond to things like this. There’s rules in place to try to prevent things like that and I’m quite certain that they’ll take a good long look at that.”

We’ll see if the league does examine this and determines the only thing that kept this from being an instigator with less than five minutes left is that the refs decided not levy one for some unexplained reason. (Michael Russo, StarTribune)

Apparently, Av's coach Patrick Roy sent their goon out at the end of the game because of a legal shoulder-to-chest hit.

If you don't believe me that this is a legal hit check out the GIFs embedded below.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

When the NCHC was formed, the league was going to do things better. That was one of the premises of breaking away from the WCHA schools. That status quo was no longer acceptable and needed to be changed.

One of the big selling points of hiring head of officials Don Adam was that the NCHC was going to work on training their on-ice officials. Almost two years into this new league, the NCHC is still plagued by many of the same issues that were front and center in the in the old WCHA. You have a great on-ice product that's officiated by sub-standard officials.

In my opinion, the NCHC has officials that shouldn't be reffing games at this level. This past weekend, NCHC officials Timm Walsh, Nick Krebsbach were absolutely brutal. Words can't explain what transpired. So, you have a video to watch.

First, you have a legitimate goal that should have counted. As you can see by watching the video, that the puck was clearly over the line.

There's no reason that goal shouldn't have counted. Watch the video, the puck was clearly over the line and in the net. The argument of the ref was going to blow the whistle, doesn't cut it in this instance.You have a puck that's not frozen and in play. If the refs were going to blow the whistle, there's no reason to spend five minutes reviewing the play. Right?

The second play, the puck is clearly not in the net and the refs take quite a bit of time to review the play.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

As promised, the video highlights of game two between UND vs. UMD game. I think the boys in stripes has a rough weekend, all weekend long. Also, I included the first penalty of the game. Mark MacMillan was hit with a shoulder/elbow in the head by UMD defensmen Andy Welinskito, this should have been a five-minute major.

Some had made the argument that Steph Pattyn should have been tossed from the game. The Duluth player definitely embellished the call. It was a good weekend of hockey. Feel free to chime in with your opinion.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

There has been a lot of hockey news in the past day or so, and more coming from the Minnesota Wild camp today as well, and no it isn't anything about the Darcy Kuemper situation. The Wild have announced an affiliation with the ECHL's Alaska Aces.

The Aces have been very successful as a franchise in the past few seasons, winning three Kelly Cup Championships in the past nine seasons, including this past season.

Included in the agreement, according to wild.com, the Aces will serve as a resource for developmental efforts for both Iowa (AHL) and Minnesota.

UND fans may take notice at a familiar face on the Aces roster, and now in the Minnesota Wild system, Evan Trupp. Trupp played four years at UND and was a member of the Aces for their championship winning team last season.

Monday, August 18, 2014

If you haven't seen this, it's worth a look. Former Warroad Warrior and Minnesota North Star Henry Boucha let Clyde Bellcourt and the National Coalition Against Racism know how he felt about their efforts to get Warroad to change it's logo. These comments were posted on his Facebook account.

“It the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, the Warroad Indian Community, the Indian Education Department and the Warroad Indian Parent Committee supported keeping the name Warroad Warriors. [The Warroad Indian Community] still does today!

“We are proud of what the Warriors represent. Warroad [Kay-Bay-Kah-Nong] is derived from War Road, a trail to the West where the Warriors (our ancestors) traveled down to fight and battle the Sioux. We fought many fierce battles and won the war, keeping our land on Lake of the Woods.

“This is what the name is all about, and we are proud to have it.

“The Indian Parent Committee and the Warroad Indian Community designed the logo for our school. We use it today and wear it with pride.

“We haven’t had a mascot in 40 years. No-May-Poke, a brother to KaKaGeesick and Little Thunder, sold part of his land allotment at a very reasonable price to the Warroad School. It was at [that] time the Warroad Warriors name was instilled, with pride.

“This issue should be left to the communities to decide. Warroad decided once, and we’ll keep the name!

“The National Coalition, with members David Glass, Clyde Bellecourt, Michelle Mills, Norman Renville and Alan Yansey, who instigated this issue with Warroad, along with their lawyers using donated monies and wasting it on this lawsuit, only want fame and national recognition. They should feed the homeless and use the money for something good.’’

Take the hint, Clyde, and go back to the noble task of getting rid of the Washington Redskins.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Ok, I know that the season is still two months away, but I just can't get over how this one ended, and not just for North Dakota either. In general, this past season saw a lot of parody and I expect this season to be just the same. We saw a team with just one NHL draft pick win it all, a team beat another in .6 seconds to go to the national title game, but lose and lose badly. The end of an era in NCAA Men's Hockey with the end of one conference, and the addition to two new ones. Surprising blow-outs and spectacular overtime thrillers. Most of this could be seen within the North Dakota club alone.

Looking ahead to the season upon us, one must look at who left early, and from where, and who has the best incoming freshman. You have your usual suspects as one might imagine, with Boston College, Minnesota, and North Dakota probably being in the top 10 all season long, barring the typical first half North Dakota funk they always seem to have. Union, the defending national champs, is a team that I don't know what to think about. They proved that if you have a good core of players, and believe in your coach/team, great things can happen.

Michigan looks like they are back on the upswing once again, but their usual Big 10 football rival,

Ohio State, they too look as if they could become a team to look at when it comes to tourney time. The Buckeyes are off of a Big 10 tournament runner-up finish, losing an overtime heartbreaker to Wisconsin.

One also has to wonder about Boston University and if they will crawl back up the rankings again, or if they will stay out of the tournament picture like last season. Only time will tell.

Once again, the NCHC looks to be the powerhouse conference, with the possibility of sending at least five teams to the tournament once again. Miami has their top players returning this season, and are once again among the favorites to win the conference in preseason polls. However, they said that last season too and you saw how that ended up.

Minnesota, the College Hockey News number one team coming into this coming season in their very preseason poll release, looks to gain revenge after their national title game flop against Union. The always tough Golden Gophers

should be in the top five of the rankings for much of, if not the entire season. Being lead by goalie Adam Wilcox, and Kyle Rau, Minnesota is looking for banner number six to hang up in their barn once the season is over.

Finally, a team I know much more about, North Dakota. With three of five incoming freshman being drafted at this years NHL Draft, they return a line-up that has a lot of options.

If you thought last year's freshman class was impressive, wait until you see this one. You have a stud goalie, a first round draft pick, and good core team guys leaving a game day spot hard to come by this year. Between Minnesota and North Dakota this year, you don't find much deeper line-ups in the entire country, and I know UND is looking for revenge after how their, dare I say Cinderella, season ended.

If you asked me to pick a national champion right now, I'd have to flip a coin between North Dakota and Minnesota, but the season is very long and a lot can happen. Ask me this question at the start of the second half and I might have a different answer for you.

Now that the development camps are in full swing, the Minnesota Gophers got some good news. Defenseman Brady Skjei will return for his junior season.

By Brian Deutsch (GopherSports.com) - Gopher Hockey defenseman Brady Skjei has confirmed he will return to the University of Minnesota for his junior season in 2014-15.

The Lakeville, Minn., native is currently participating at the New York Rangers Prospect Development Camp at Madison Square Garden Training Center and informed the National Hockey League (NHL) organization of his decision on Thursday.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Here's a perfect example of why college hockey players shouldn't be in a hurry to leave college and play professional hockey. Even if they're a first round draft choice.

Four years after leaving college, former Minnesota Golden Gopher Jordan Schroeder has played in a mere 56 NHL games and scored an unimpressive (6g-9a—15pts). I know that hind sight is 20/20, but I do wonder if Schroeder would still leave school early, knowing what he knows now? Stay in school and finish that degree.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Looks like the Wild are trying to add another top-six forward for their lineup. This is interesting news right here. I wonder what it would take to get Iggy in a Wild uniform? I would also applaud the move if it happened.

Michael Russo, Startribune – The draft is over, no player trades were made, so whether it’s Sunday or Monday, bet that Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Mike Yeo will try to get together in Minnesota with pending free agents Matt Niskanen and Thomas Vanek.

While those have been the most well-publicized names surrounding Wild interest in advance of the market opening across the NHL Tuesday, the Wild has other lines in the water, too.

The Wild has been in contact with camp, according to multiple sources. It’s unclear if the interest is mutual, but it’s definitely clear that the Wild is interested in potentially signing the future Hall of Fame winger and, ironically, all-time leader in basically every offensive category against the Wild.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Eric Duatschek asks some very good questions. Personally, I hope that Thomas Vanek still has a chance to make it to Minnesota. I think he could be the final piece for the Minnesota Wild. Well... that and a solid starting goaltender that can stop the puck and play a majority of the games. I think the Wild have that with Karcy Kuemper. Time will tell.

Eric Duhatschek, Globe and Mail -- THE THOMAS VANEK CONUNDRUM: When times were good in Montreal, there was some talk that the Canadiens might actually consider bidding for Vanek in free agency. Now, it seems highly unlikely, given what a negligible impact he’s had on their run to the semi-finals. But will Minnesota welcome him now, after making inquiries at the deadline, but ultimately settling for Matt Moulson, because the acquisition cost and the dollars out were more affordable? Moulson wasn’t a great fit in Minnesota and the New York Islanders would do well to try and kiss and make up, after dealing him for Vanek in the first place. Minnesota has the great good fortune of having Dany Heatley’s $7-million cap hit disappear after this season, but committing that money to Vanek, a player of questionable playoff pedigree, seems ill-advised at this stage. The Wild seem to have a good thing going, with the group they’ve assembled now. Sitting out free agency this summer makes the most sense for them.

One problem for Vanek is that he's been less than impressive during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vanek has scored (5g-3a-8pts) in 13 games. He's also a (-3). That's not going to make teams want to sign him for 7+ million a season.